Ms. Licorice || Tendō x F!Reader

Chapter thirteen

He leads you through the woods and past clearings and small ponds. You two made jokes and climbed some of the trees along the way. He showed you some of his favorite streams and you tried catching tadpoles, which you failed miserably, but he caught some.

It had only been an hour and most of it was you two fooling around. In reality it would have only taken twenty minutes to get to the destination.

"We're here." he says and takes a deep breath. It was an old, but sturdy, bridge. Underneath was a large stream. There was lily pads with blooming flowers gliding slowly around. The water was surprisingly clear and you could see straight to the bottom. The rocks were all sorts of colors and shone brightly through the light between the trees.

Tendō grabbed your wrist gently and dragged you on to the bridge for a better look. "Is this safe?" you ask. "It hasn't fallen on me yet." he jokes. You squint your eyes but forget about your safety once you look over the side and see the hidden beauty.

"Woah..." you breath out and blink slowly. You've never seen anything so amazing and peaceful. "It's pretty right?" you nod your head. "How did you find this place?" you ask, as it was quite far from any people. "I liked exploring as a kid and one time I wondered off a bit too far." he starts. You looked back at him while he speaked. You noticed the gentle smile he held and your heart beat suddenly speeded up.

"I stumbled across this place and was so amazed I just stayed here and played. Apparently I was gone for so long my parents went looking for me." he says and chuckles at the end, recalling the memory. You giggle as well at the thought of a lost tiny tendō.

"They searched hours for me. The police couldn't do anything since it hadn't been 48 hours. Little me got tired and decided I had enough fun for one night. It was just starting to get dark so I layed on this bridge and fell asleep." he explained.

"Did they find you?" you ask curiously, now invested in the story. "No! I slept out here all night!" he says and laughs out. You giggle along with him. "What happened when you woke up?" you ask. "I walked back home." he states simply. "I was hungry so I just walked home and straight into my house. I sat at the table until my parents came bursting through the door. Apparently they had gone looking all night. That was the first time I'd ever seen them cry." you feel a ting of sadness ring through out at the thought of having parents who cared, but you brushed it off.

"That's the most wholesome story ever." tendō chuckles. "Yeah except for the part where they took me to the doctor right after and I had to get like five ticks removed from me and I got like three shots since they were worried I'd catch a disease." you wince. "That does sound bad." he nods in agreement.

"What about you?" he asks. "What about me?" you ask, afraid of the question. "What's some crazy thing you did as a kid?" you dwell on the question for a moment. You didn't want to confess your boring childhood. But you also weren't going to lie.

"I uh, don't know." you say, a bit sad and embarrassed. You never once cared what he thought of you, so why now? Why are you so afraid? "Oh cmon we all have something we did." he watches you carefully, now seeing how your mood changed all of a sudden. "You alright?" he asks. You didn't want to cry, you were trying so hard not too.

"Hey, it's ok..." he walks over to you and wraps his arms around you gently. He stayed silent while you broke down in his arms. You hated doing this, especially wrapped in a warm embrace with the enemy.

"They l-left..." you finally spoke, your voice cracking. Tendō ran a hand through your hair in an attempt to soothe you, which worked. "They left me." you say quietly. He led you to sit down in between his legs so he could cuddle you and you could talk or cry it out. He was surprisingly really good at listening and comforting.

You explained it all to him. Everything about your parents leaving. Why you wanted to always win so bad. Why you had to be the best. And finally you asked him something that hurt him silently. "Why am I never good enough?"

He made you face him and he looked you right in those glossy tear stained eyes. He held your shoulders and spoke with a shakey voice. "Please don't say these things." he says with a small sad smile as a tear slips from his eye. "Never question your self worth based on the actions of others. If we did that, then we wouldn't get anywhere in life." you stay silent and nod your head. You knew he was right.

"We?" you question, catching on to the wording. "I... I had a rough time with other kids when I was younger based on my looks and actions. They called me a monster and made fun of me. It cut a deep wound that was hard to stitch up." he explains and looks away. You reach and grab one of his hands from your shoulder. He looks at you in surprise and you give him a reassuring smile.

"It still kind of hurts to be called one." he mumbles. You finally wrap your arms around him and chuckle lightly as a few tears slip. "I know what you mean. If the word boring is used towards me it triggers me." you tell him as he wraps his arms around you. The two of you enjoyed the hug for a moment longer before breaking apart.

"I'm sorry I broke down." you apologize. "Don't be." he said assuringly. "Let's go get something to eat?" he suggests. "That sounds awesome right now." you reply.
---
"And here's some licorice for Ms. Licorice." he says jokingly as he hands you a package. In his other hand he held a mini bin of chocolate ice cream. "Also," he pulls a water out from his hoodie pocket.

"Now you have something to drink." you smile and take the water. "Thanks tendō." you say. "Just call me satori." you look at him a bit surprised. "Alright then, same goes for you." you reply. "Y/n it is~" he says happily.

You open the package and bite the ends off. "Candy straw?" he raised a brow. "Yep." you take a sip through the makeshift straw. "I figured you'd do that, so I bought the bigger ones." he mentions unconsciously as he attempts to open the ice cream. "You did?" you ask confused.

He looks up and catches on to what he just said. His face burns a light red and he chuckles. "Uh yeah, I noticed you do that." he said motioning to the whole water + licorice straw.

"Oh." you whisper to yourself. "Hey te- Satori?" he puts his attention back into you as he finally got the lid off. "Let's do this again sometime. You know, outside of trying to beat each other." he smiles softly. "Definitely."